Lewis Ludlam made the break and lock Alex Coles was on his left shoulder to run in. Biggar’s conversion made it 21-10. But Tigers quickly used another big scrum to manufacture a reply, with Steward freeing Nadolo and, with defenders closing in, Porter provided the final reach for the line. Burns converted to make it a four-point game again. Harry Wells was the first man called from the bench from the restart, and Olly Cracknell soon joined him, making important metres as Tigers build momentum in attack. Scrum-half van Poortvliet, in his 50th first-team appearance, was held up over the tryline after Dan Cole’s carry through contact 15 metres out. Ben Youngs – in his 27th derby appearance – and Joe Heyes joined the action on the hour, with play still in the Saints 22, and the visitors were piling on the pressure before a stoppage for injury to Saints prop Ethan Waller. Phil Cokanasiga replaced Porter during the stoppage, with play eventually restarting with a five-metre scrum which led to a penalty and warning to the Saints.
Tigers stayed on the tryline through phase after phase with the forwards until the call to play wider and a quick exchange of passes gave Steward a run-in for his first of the season. Burns added the extras just before half-time to cut the gap to 14-10. Freeman almost found his way to the left-hand corner early in the second half, only for Potter to win the race for loose ball, but they returned moments later to claim their third try.
After a scrum penalty led to a second whistle as Nemani Nadolo carried in midfield, and Burns opened the scoring with the kick from 40 metres. But Saints immediately opened an attack on their right, using a lineout to get the backline moving, until a tackle from Charlie Clare on No8 Juarno Augustus dislodged ball less than 10 metres out from the tryline. Dan Biggar had the ball down under the posts for Saints on 10 minutes, but the home crowd celebrations were cut short as referee Karl Dickson confirmed a forward pass back on the 10-metre line and play restarted with a Tigers scrum. Saints were not denied for much longer, though, scoring twice in the space of just two minutes to take a 14-3 lead.
Two tries in the space of two minutes around the 15-minute mark put Saints in front, but a Steward score got Tigers back into the game just before half-time, trimming the deficit to just four points in the latest instalment in a 142-year-old rivalry. Despite a third from Saints just after the break, the set-piece gave Tigers a platform to build from as Guy Porter scored and then Chris Ashton, George Martin and two more from Steward in the last 10 minutes settled the outcome. Steward was making his first appearance of the season after England’s summer tour and international colleague Jack van Poortvliet made his 50th first-team appearance in his first starting selection of the campaign.